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Not a Very Good Manhattan, Revisited

My earlier cocktail post merits this trip to the archives:

Me: Can you make a manhattan?
Bartender: Sure, but not a very good one.
Me: Umm, okay.
Bartender: (Pours bourbon, ice cubes, in cocktail shaker. Looks around.) Drat! I'm out of triple sec. Sorry!
Me: (Stares in confusion, speechless).

I later discovered that this idea was not an aberration, although it is an abomination.

Not a very good Manhattan

The most horrifying thing I have heard or seen about a Manhattan in three years:

To Man Up a Manhattan:

• Replace the sweet vermouth with dry, to give your drink that rugged brown bourbon color.
• Order it “on the rocks.” Served with ice, your drink will come in a low-ball or “old fashioned” glass. Nothing long-stemmed. (Long-stemmed is fine for Martinis, a drink whose power transcends gender, and some have argued, time and space.)
• Order “with a twist.” Maraschino cherries are the clowns of the booze world, the stuff of nightmares.

And there you have it. “A dry Manhattan on the rocks with a twist.” A respectable, gentlemanly drink order . . .

The source is the new-to-me blog Sexiquette, which looks like it would be a very good blog if it had more posts-- see for example this ode to summer.

From the Archives

In praise of mackerel.

Assorted Food Links

1. The search for Cambridge Sauce.  (Via Trivial Comedy.)
2. A new cupcake store in downtown Miami.
3. Cupcakes hit the middle east, too.